Introductory
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



ABBREVIATION : 
TOFPUS

SYNONYMS : 
   Narthecium pusillum Michx.
   Tofieldia minima (Hill) Druce
   Phalangium minimum Hill
   Tofieldia palustris of authors; not Huds.


SCS PLANT CODE : 
   TOPU


COMMON NAMES : 
   little false asphodel


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name of little false asphodel is
Tofieldia pusilla (Michx.) Pers.


LIFE FORM : 
Forb

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
No special status

OTHER STATUS : 
Little false asphodel is globally secure but critically imperiled in
Montana.  It is a regional endemic [12].


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
Tara Y. Williams, October 1990


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Williams, Tara Y. 1990. Tofieldia pusilla. In: Remainder of Citation

DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Little false asphodel is distributed from boreal North America south to
southern British Columbia, Alberta, northwestern Montana, Isle Royale in
Michigan, and Quebec [9,14].



ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES37  Mountain meadows


STATES : 
     AK  MI  MT  AB  BC  ON  PQ


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     DENA  GLAC  ISRO  LACL  WRST  YUCH


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
   8  Northern Rocky Mountains


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   235  Cottonwood - willow


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
NO-ENTRY

VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
NO-ENTRY


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Experimental transplanting of little false asphodel was moderately to
very successful.  Plants declined rapidly after the 5th year, but most
of the surviving plants increased in size [2].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Little false asphodel transplants declined following a hot, dry summer.
Plants were also prone to damage from frost heaving and were infested by
a liverwort [2].  Year to year variation in abundance is surprisingly
high [8].

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Little false asphodel is a lily which branches from short rhizomes.
Ramets of the same genet may occur at some distance from each other [9].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Little false asphodel reproduces vegetatively.  Seed was produced freely
at one site, but no seedlings were found [2].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Little false asphodel occurred as a member of a stable tundra community.
It has been classified in the interior alpine zone of British Columbia
and the upper temperate life zone of Montana [8,11,12].  It grows in
wet, boggy soil, meadows, mossy streambanks, wet limestone grasslands,
on moist alpine ridges, and on a reticulate network of frost boils and
areas of unstable ground [2,5,9,11].  In a water sedge (Carex aquatilis)
association, little false asphodel was found in zones slightly drier
than the wet zone adjacent to standing water.  Its abundance increased
as the zones became slightly drier [7].  Other common plant associates
include other sedges (Carex spp.), willows (Salix spp.), and common
butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris).  Little false asphodel occurs at
elevations between 6,500 and 7,500 feet (2,100 and 2,420 m) in Montana
[8] and to at least 5,580 feet (1,700 m) in Alaska [6].



SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Little false asphodel flowers from late May to early July.  The majority
of seed is ripe in August [2].

FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil

FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
NO-ENTRY


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
NO-ENTRY


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

REFERENCES
SPECIES: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel 



REFERENCES : 

 .  Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
       reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
       associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
       U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p. 
       [434]

 .  Cranston, D. M.; Valentine, D. H. 1983. Transplant experiments on rare
       plant species from Upper Teesdale. Biological Conservation. 26: 175-191.
       [14231]

 .  Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
       Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p.  [905]

 .  Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
       1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
       ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
       Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p.  [998]

 .  Hitchcock, C. Leo; Cronquist, Arthur; Ownbey, Marion. 1969. Vascular
       plants of the Pacific Northwest. Part 1: Vascular cryptograms,
       gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Seattle, WA: University of Washington
       Press. 914 p.  [1169]

 .  Kershaw, K. A. 1974. Studies on lichen-dominated systems. X. The sedge
       meadows of the coastal raised beaches. Canadian Journal of Botany. 52:
       1947-1972.  [12966]

 .  Lesica, Peter. 1984. Rare vascular plants of Glacier National Park,
       Montana. Missoula, MT: University of Montana, Department of Botany. 27
       p.  [12049]

 .  Lesica, Peter; McCune, Bruce. 1989. Monitoring the effects of global
       warming using peripheral rare plants in wet alpine tundra in Glacier
       National Park, Montana. 1989 Progress Report. [Unpublished report on
       file at U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain
       Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT]. 22 p.  [14701]

 .  Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
       geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p.  [2843]

.  Revel, Richard D. 1980. New records of alpine plants from Morfee
       Mountain, British Columbia. Canadian Field-Naturalist. 94(2): 177-180. 
       [13205]

.  Shelly, J. Stephen, compiler. 1990. Plant species of special concern.
       Helena, MT: Montana Natural Heritage Program. 20 p.  [12960]

.  Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
       Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
       Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire
       Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p.  [20090]

.  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
       National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
       SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p.  [11573]

Related categories for Species: Tofieldia pusilla | Little False Asphodel